If you have a Bible with you, please open to the New Testament and book a first Corinthians chapter 7, sound towards the end of your New Testament for the end of your Bible. First Corinthians chapter 7, we're going to be reading verses 29 and 35. But this I say, brethren, the time has been short, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who used the world as though they did not make full use of it, but a form of this world is passing away, that I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord, but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided, the woman who is unmarried in the Virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord that she may be holy, both in body and spirit, but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your unbenefit, not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. With God's holy word, let's pray together. Jesus, you prayed to your father that we might be sanctified, we might be set apart by your word, your word which is true. Now would you in this day, would you meet with us and guide us in directives, would you wake us up, would you convict us where that needs to happen, would you encourage us, and would you brewery up those who are hurting, and would you most of all bring the cross of our glorious Savior to front and center stage that we might bask in the power thereof? Amen. I remember several years ago watching one of those Barbel Walters specials, she interviewed one of my favorite actresses, Katherine Hepburn, and they recall that two or three years ago. Katherine Hepburn talked about what her favorite movies were, she talked about her relationship of sorts with Spencer Tracy over the years, and then Barbara asked her what's a pretty obvious question that maybe a few people have the courage to ask, why have you never gotten married? In fact, she'd never been married. And she said something that may sound very much like culture, but I found it actually quite different. I said, I never got married because I found that I had a higher purpose, I found that that I was designed to be an actress, and that my gift in acting would be compromised if I got married. Now, at first glance, you might see that as a part and parcel with much of culture which places career above other things, particularly family, but I want to suggest that there's something in what she said that I think the human soul cries out for. Now, of course, she found something which is at best penultimate for career. It's not what we're created for first, but the human being was in fact, as we've been saying all these weeks, created for a deep personal relationship with God, and there's any number of things that can distract us from that, one of which is marriage. And I suppose one of the great dangers of doing a pro long series on marriage, in which this is now the ninth message, is that we would, on the one hand, without attempting to do so, idolize the institution of marriage, and without intending to also demonizing the state of singleness. This passage that we look at today provides a very helpful corrective, it provides a balance that I think is absolutely critical for all of us, the married and single among us, that we have what the Apostle Paul called undistracted devotion to God. And of course, marriage, as he talks about in here, provides some at least tendencies to that undistracted devotion. And singleness, on the other hand, provides some unusual freedom from the things of married life that one might be in a special way devoted to the Lord, with undistracted devotion. Now, this word undistracted, it might be undivided in your translation that you have before you. It could also be translated unhindered, it's the same, comes from the same root word that is found in Hebrews chapter 12, where the author of Hebrews is saying, indeed, the great cloud of witness is before us, let us throw aside everything that hinders, an ascendant, so easily entangled and run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, a picture there of a marathon runner, a great athlete who goes into strict training to be able to achieve the goal that is set before them, winning the race. So you've got to go into strict training and that means throwing aside anything that hinders. I think sometimes when I picture this of some of the great athletes of the world, great marathon runners, trying to run a marathon, wearing a burlap sack around their way. Have you ever been to a carnival affair where you had to participate in one of those relay races or you have to strap a burlap sack around you and hop to one end and then hop back, hopefully not falling in your face, in mid course, trying to beat the others doing the same thing, but what if you were in a marathon and everyone else was unencumbered, but you looked down and in the first 10 yards and you've got this burlap sack soared to you, there is some sense, and this is what we want to try and get underneath a little bit, in which the institution of marriage, the marriage relationship, as spectacular as it is, is a burlap sack. It is a hindrance. There are ways in which marriage can distract the person from the quality, the pristine quality of unfettered devotion to God. So how is it that we can live, whether we're single or married with undistracted devotion to God? That's what I want to explore with you as we look at this very, very important passage. So keep your bibles open if you have one with you to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. The apostle Paul, of course, was riding this letter to the church at Corinth. They had evidently written him back in the ancient days, the equivalent of an email with a series of questions, and the series of questions were then answered by way of this epistle, this letter to the church at Corinth. The difficulty is that the questions are not always clearly stated for us because he's assuming that the readers have those questions before them. And so we have to sort of assume what the questions are, but one of the things that we think is being dealt with here is what place does marriage hold in the schema things in terms of following the price in this age. And so the apostle, the same writer who has written for us from the book of Ephesians, the most spectacular understanding of marriage, probably in the whole Bible, I mean, he takes this earthy thing of marriage and throws it way up, and exalts marriage. But then this passage provides sort of a contrast to that, a very helpful contrast. And the reason why he says it's very important to not allow this glorious thing of marriage to distract you and why he ends up in this passage actually preferring the state of singleness. He says in verse 4, he says, I wish in verse 7, excuse me, I wish all were even as I am. That is, I wish all of you could be single. The reason for that preference is found in verse 29. He says because, excuse me, but this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, literally the time has been compressed. And the idea is that come along with this in verse 29, verse 26, excuse me, he talks about the present distress, because of the present distress, verse 28, he talks about the troubles of life. He says, but if you marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marry, she's not sinned, yet such will have trouble in this life, and I'm trying to spare you this trouble. Now some would say what he's talking about is the second coming of Jesus Christ, and in view of the fact that Christ could come at any moment that we need to live our lives with undistracted devotion, because he might come and he might find you in a position that you shouldn't be in, you shouldn't be in, and you need to be instead of distracted, undistracted. It could be that, but I'm more inclined to look at it as dealing with the general course of life in this age, because in verse 28, when he says that there's going to be trouble in this life, the picture there is much more of the general pattern of life, there's going to be trouble in this life, and in marriage there's going to be more concern, more trouble, and they will be multiplied in fact, and so what he's pointing to is that in view of the time that is shortened, that we need to live an undistracted devotion, now the word time here is also interesting, it's not like probably the first word that comes to your mind and grief their two words, one is chronoth where we get chronology, and that's the most common usage of time in the New Testament, it has the idea of a span of time, if that's the word it was used here, you'd have the idea of the time being shortened, Jesus could come in any minute, you need to live this life, but rather it's the word kairas, which means an appointed time, it's like in the gospel of John, if you remember way back, if you were with us when we went through that, the word hour was used a lot, or if sometimes timeslighted time there, it's speaking of the hour of Christ's death and resurrection, post-resurrection that is after this has happened, the New Testament authors like Paul are using this word kairas the time to speak about the period of time, the era post-precipiction and resurrection, before Christ comes again, you might call it the redemptive era, the time in which the people of God are being ushered into the kingdom of God in accelerated fashion, and there is to be a sense of heightened awareness and interest as to what our purpose is for the Lord's cause during this time, so it's not really focusing so much on the amount of time left, but the different kind of time left, that is, the things of this life, marriage, being one of them, but he also talks about anxieties of sorrow, depression, discouragement, or rejoicing of being excited about the things of life, or even possessions he talks about here, all of these things tend to define a person's life, and what Paul was saying is that nothing must define your life during that time because it's contracted, it's shortened, because our purpose should be to live with a very clear passion for the kingdom of Christ and God, and so it's not dealing so much with the duration of time as it is a different clock now that Christians are to have, some people ask why do we go by the church calendar, why do we have colors, and the colors are going to about to change, actually, from the common season of grain to the purple season of Advent, becoming of the King, why do we go by that? The reason is because a Christian is to be a person who thinks of time in a different way than the world does, that time is not a matter of me accomplishing my to-do list of having my appointments, of doing my works so I can be freed up to recreate, time, the bookends of time, everything in time is to collapse in an understanding of the cross, and so we have a church calendar that sort of focuses us back in a living color fashion, upon the events of Christ's life, particularly his death burial and resurrection. All right, so the point here, if you're still trailing with me, that's a pretty thick theological concept, is that now in this redemptive age where Christ's plan is accentuated, we are to think of time differently and not be distracted by the things of life in particular marriage, the new age, as it were, has dawned, and so we must be governed by his kingdom and his cross. Now, that's one of the primary purposes, why we need to think about this. Another reason why we need to think about it is down at the other end of this passage in verse 35, where he says, this I've told you for your own benefit, not to restrain you, but to promote what is appropriate and to distract your devotion to the Lord. That is, I'm telling you this, Paul, it's not just because it's right, I'm telling you this because it's this, not just because it's good to do, but because good will come of it for you if you do it. It's freeing, and a lot of people tend to think of the Christian life as something that binds you. It's like putting on the chains, you are now confined, you can't fully express yourself that religion stuff. But what the Bible constantly, over and over and over again talks about is that if you understand the real gospel, and it begins to dawn in your heart, it's a liberating thing, it liberates you from the inside out, and you're saying this concept, an undistracted devotion, whether you're single or married, will liberate you, but you've got to have the right perspective according to the appointed time, that you've got to think in terms of kingdom values, and the cross, rather than in the world's values, in the way the world places things. Now, what does this have to do with married people and what does this have to do with single? Let's look at both of those briefly. First of all, the undistracted life in marriage is put in these words by Paul in verse 29, he says, so from now on, those who have wives should be as though they have none. And he does the counter for ladies, he's going to wait a minute, what about the ladies side of things? He talks about that in verse 34, he says, in essence, the woman who is married, who is not married is concerned about the things of the Lord, but the one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And so the idea is, those who are married should live as though they were not. Earlier this week, as I was meditating on this concept, I went and told Ellen, I said, honey, I want to live in our marriage as though I were not. And Ellen has a sense of humor, sort of tongue in cheek, she looked at me and said, I think you're already doing that to Shay. This is not, guys, some of you are out there giving a high five and you're going, wait a minute, this is not a license to be neglectful in marriage. It is not a license to be irresponsible. It is certainly not a license toward immorality. That is, you can live as though you didn't have a wife, don't get another one. It couldn't possibly be talking about that. You always interpret scripture in light of other scripture to make sure that we've got the clear focus in mind. And of course, in the entirety of scripture, would lead us to say, husbands are to be devoted to their wives. Husbands, as we've said over and over in this series, are to give their lives for their wives daily, a life of self-sacrifice to love them as Christ's love of church, and a reciprocal type of love from the wife to the husband as well. So it couldn't be, whatever it's saying, it couldn't be denying that in any way, Shay, before. But what it's saying is that there is to be something, it's a rhetorical couple of lines here. It's not to be taken literally. It's saying that there is to be a certain kind of simplicity to your life within marriage, where you are not hindered. The burlap sack analogy, you're not hindered, but that you are called to a radical new stance. You are called to never make an excuse for not living with undivided devotion to the Lord because of your marriage. Christians, one of the things in the days that Paul wrote this was that it was a prevailing view of what we think of today as stoicism, that you would remove yourself from the world. This is with a monastic movement, developed. And that the world is contaminated, removed yourself from the world, so you won't be corrupted by it. You won't be corrupted anymore, and you can be holy. That's not what this is talking about. This is the Bible constantly encouraging us to be in the world, not of the world. Be thoroughly engaged in the world, but not controlled or defined by the things of this life, even such a wonderful thing as marriage. There is a real sense in which the Bible says two things that seem to be conflicting. On the one hand, marriage is far more important than you would ever dream it to be. I hope you've seen that throughout this series. On the other hand, it's also saying, don't make an idol of it. Marriage is not the end of all. Marriage is never designed to be an end in itself, but always a means to point you to what? The marriage between Christ and his church. What are some of the implications of this? Let me just give a couple. First of all, one of the things that this passage must be reinforcing to us is the responsibility to care for your spouse if you're married. It clearly affirms that over and over again. If you're married, you are concerned about the things of your wife or your husband. That's right, and fitting, and you should be. You can never use your relationship with Christ or the church as an excuse for not being very concerned and fully devoted to your wife or to your husband. And yet, on the other hand, you can never use it as an excuse that is your marriage relationship to neglect the Lord or his church or his people to shove people out. And I think that's where many of us are of the danger of making an idol out of marriage and forgetting our first love or first spouse, Christ. You remember the Lord's words in the book of Revelation to the church at Ephesus? They were tremendous people, really. One of the great churches of the first century. And he said, you know, I know you're deep. They are very good. And I know your theology, your belief system is right on target. It's orthodox. It's true to my word, but I don't just one thing against you. One little thing. You've forgotten your first love. Now, I don't know about you, but if the Lord said that to me, I think that we're just completely destroying it. Because it's interesting, well, what's all this other stuff worth anyway if I'm neglecting this? If I am neglecting Jesus Christ as my first love, even while being devoted as a husband or father or pastor, then all of these are for not. The first love must take priority. If you think of Jesus's words in the Gospel of Luke chapter 14, he said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yet even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Hyperbolic statement. You got to take it again as a contendent. A statement to sort of shout at us. Think of the important relationships of your life. Think of them and then contrast them with me unless your love for me, Jesus would say. Call as your love for all these other significant ones in your life to appear as hate in comparison. You do not love me enough. And the point Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 7 is that you want a real risk in marriage of loving your spouse or the things of marriage, the comfort of marriage, in such a way that it dilutes your love for Christ. May that never be. I've had that one very dear member of our church share with me that his great struggle, his greatest idol is his wife. His greatest problem is loving his wife too much. Some of you wives are out there doing like this. Would that be your idol? But you see it's not beautiful. Even if that's the problem, there's no beauty in that. Just as there's no beauty and neglect of your spouse. You think of Joshua's words at the end of his book. As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. In contrast, all of the other things that we could serve, I'm going to unite my wife and children towards one holy focus. Well, one of the ways I think in which in marriage this happens, that is that it becomes a distraction, is just simply the business of marriage. You think of life, our family, we have three young children, and boy, when the day gets going, it is a mad rush, trying to get everyone dressed, breakfast on the table, keep some order of peace, lunch is fixed, get ready for carpool, out the door, gone, and you breathe. Then the end of the day, everyone's home, let's get through homework, let's get bad, let's get dinner, let's have some cursory reading of something and pray and turn out the light and breathe again. Simply the busyness of life dilutes that love for us, doesn't it? But it makes you think of that beautiful story for Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha. You remember the sisters and Martha is Martha Stewart and she is getting the house ready, everything's perfect, the recipes are right, the ovens are working the way they're supposed to. Only one problem, Mary is being a slugger, she's being a lazy bomb. Before we sit and entertain, we've got to take care of the things of the meal, come on, Mary gets your act together and Jesus says, Martha, only one thing is needed, and Mary should sit.
Ever it is, marriage dilutes the busyness, the love, even the tension, the discord, the conflicts, whatever it might be, pain, these things dilute our love for Christ and we've got to watch it because otherwise we can't watch the proverbial frog in the kettle. You place a frog in a pot of boiling water, what does it do? Jump sound, you place a frog in a pot of warm tap water. You know, it's having a great time and then you turn up the heat and boiling, boiling point is reached and it is so relaxed, it can no longer jump out of the pot, it just boils to death. Are you in that point? In your law, as a great woman. Marriage must not hinder life, it shouldn't hinder ministry. Some of you need to be more involved in the Lord's work and your marriage may be hindering you. Husbands, are you freeing your wives up so they can be more involved in things of the Lord? There's a great quote on George Whitfield who was the tremendous English evangelist of the 18th century, talking about his marriage and what it would be like to be his wife. The biographer said, though he was weak and yielding and anything relating to his personal convenience, that is he was a servant. He wasn't selfish and all things bearing on the discipline of the Christian life he was inflexible. He lived according to rule, rising at four each morning and throughout the day allowing no moment to be lost. He was unfailingly prompt and maintained everything around him and the strictest order in us. You see, our marriage should never get in the way of our first love of being wholly devoted and disciplined in our knowledge and love of Christ. What are you doing, wife, to help your husband put that in? What are you doing, husband? To facilitate your wife being fully devoted to the Lord. Now I need to move quickly, I'm sorry I'm going along, but now a few thoughts on how this relates to single people because Paul is very clearly saying, I prefer single life. He says, I don't have a command of the Lord on this. This is more an apostolic opinion, a pastoral guideline. You're going to be free of a lot of pain in life and you'll be more devoted. You'll have more opportunity to be devoted to the Lord. I had the privilege of meeting with a single person in our congregation recently who just pour out their heart on some of the pains of life as a single person, particularly as you get past the 30 barrier as Helen was saying. The problem is most people in our culture just views single people sort of have been waiting. There's sort of second class creatures. What's wrong with them? We look at them sort of as the lepers of the church perhaps. They haven't quite got everything together and particularly if you're a lady as Helen was saying in your 20s, you get to the end of the 20s and the clock's ticking. If you're going to get your act together or so the thinking goes, friends, that is not only rude, it is sinful to think that way. There are two legitimate categories, singleness and married life. This person asked me a very important question. Why is it in the way we raise our children, we never communicate to our children that being single permanently is a viable option? Are we embarrassed that they might end up that way? That people might think less of them? That is sin. It is wrong. Would you go up and tell Jesus that? Jesus, your ministry is not complete. You'll never be all you can be unless you're married. Would you tell the apostle Paul that? Would you tell John Scott, arguably the most influential Christian thinker alive today? Would you tell Corey Tenboom that? Or Amy Carmichael? Single people are to be held up and revered among us. We are their family. We are each others, brothers and sisters and there's something wrong when we cast a jaundice eye upon someone who is not quite as complete as we are. Because as Paul says here, there is a measure of freedom that you and I, if we're married, do not appreciate a measure of holy devotion. And so to the single person, let me encourage you as to the married, to define your life and your calling as one who in the present time, the contracted time, the heightened attention of God's redemptive plant, you have the privilege of serving Christ. To vote yourself to Him, that doesn't mean busy yourself with Christian activities so much as to give yourself to your Lord. And don't be anxious about whether you'll get married. As difficult as that is, allow yourself to be defined by Him who has called you to a holy life. There's a lot of pain in this category that we've been talking about. Some of you are married and you wish you were single. You're saying, boy, I'm tracking with you. There was a band of people, men and women, that were following Jesus throughout his ministry and in Luke chapter 8, we find that there's a band of women. One, at least, is married and at least one was single in that. But it said that they were following Him because they had been healed of various diseases and unclean spirits riddled from them. What's the point here? Friends, all of us are diseased spiritually. All of us are weak. All of us are prone to define ourselves by wrong categories and do the same to others. But the Christian gospel is that there is a great king who is the focus of life, who came and blood and died and gave his life to heal us of our prejudices, of our jaundice opinions, of our insecurities and fears, and to give himself for us that as a church he might call us, he is holy bride and free us from the life of concern and devotion to this empty world, which is passing away and be devoted holy to Christ. Oh Father, would you lift up in our lives by the power of your grace, the glorious name of Jesus? May he be king, may he rule in our hearts and nothing else, to your honor and glory. Amen.